1
Renewable Energy Policy and Public Opinion
Selena Kaneko
KYOTO UNIVERSITY
Abstract
Renewable energy is attracting more and more global
attention both as new domestic energy and as a way to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Many governments are promoting
the various forms of renewable energy but the total amount of
renewable energy is still very low in most countries. Difficulties
arise as the energy supply directly affects the daily life of
everybody, making it important to well consider what people
think about energy policies and strategies. The public should
have influence over the choice of energy sources. This is both
inevitable, and democratically desirable.t What is public
opinion about renewable energy and how should governments
go about educating people about renewable energy?
INTRODUCTION
This research paper considers what kind of influence have public acceptance for the
promotion of renewable energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass and how
should public opinion be considered in policy making. Alternative forms of energy generation
are expected to make a significant contribution to solving the problem that is present by the
threat of anthropogenic climate change. At the recent international conference about climate
change held in Paris, COP21, the investment toward renewable energy was one of the issues
discussed. In order to deal with climate change, innovation and installation of renewable
energy is needed; this requires cooperation of government and the private sector. Moreover,
for some countries where natural fossil resources are not plentiful, like Japan, renewable
energy is important to increase the energy self-sufficiency rate. Many countries are
implementing policies that encourage investment toward and innovation of renewable energy.
To install more and more renewable energy, consent by the public is needed both nationally
2
and locally. However, it is very difficult to know what public are thinking just by looking at
the polls because, as James S. Fishkin points out, the public may have little interest in and
knowledge about renewable energy1. Therefore the pursued questions for this research are
what public think about renewable energy and whether they are interested in renewable
energy policies. As showed in the following research even though in the overall polls the
acceptance and expectation for renewable energy is relatively high in both Japan and the U.S.,
in some places the construction of the power stations, for example wind turbines, faces
opposition by the local people.
In the following paper, first describe the situation of renewable energy in the U.S.
and Japan, and then the trend of public opinion in both countries. After that, give some points
concerning what government could do to improve the public acceptance of renewable energy.
THE SITUATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE U.S. AND JAPAN
The political systems of the U.S. and Japan are different in many ways but the ratio
of renewable energy in the supply of electricity is somewhat similar (Figure1). Both countries
have a relatively low ratio of renewable energy compared to other countries like Germany
and Denmark. This section briefly overviews the history of policies and position of renewable
energy in the U.S. and Japan, the current situation and the goals of each government.
1 Fishkin, James S. When the People Speak; Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation. Oxford
University Press, 2009. 2 Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. "Anual Report on Energy." Anual Report on Energy (Agency for
Natural Resorces and Energy of Japan), 2015. 3 U.S. Energy Information Administration. Renewable Energy Explained. 3 27, 2015.
http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=renewable_home (accessed 12 13, 2015).
Figure 1, Primary Energy Production by major sources 2014
23
3
Figure 3 Renewable Energy in Japan
In both the U.S. and Japan a noticeable engagement in renewable energy by the
central administration started after the oil crises of the 1970s. This is obvious as in the
congressional records of the both countries the words “renewable energy” or “new energy”
appears frequently after 19734. The oil crises stimulated a sense of the danger in excessive
dependence on foreign oil for the energy supply. Japan had promoted technical investment for
4 The Library of Congress. The Libraby of Congress. n.d. https://www.loc.gov/ (accessed 04 11, 2016).
National Diet Library. Full-text Database System for the Minutes of the Diets. n.d. http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/
(accessed 04 11, 2016).
0
50
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1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
RenewableEnergy10000kw
Figure 2 Renewable Energy Production by Primary Energy Source in the U.S.
1949-2011
U.S Energy Information Administration
0
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1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
Production TotalRenewable EnergyTrillion Btu
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renewable energy, especially for solar energy, along with nuclear power as the alternative to
fossil fuel and called “new energy”5. In the early stage of renewable energy policy, the
Japanese government mainly invested in technical research of renewable energy. This
tendency that Japanese government mainly invested in the technical research and not so much
to the application and operation continued until the end of the 20th
Century. In 2003, Japan
started the so-called Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS). According to this policy Japanese
electric companies were mandated to supply a certain amount of electricity produced by
renewable energy. The government defined the amount and what counts as renewable energy.
However, as the amount that the government requested was much too low that this policy did
not work very well and did not lead to the installation of a significant amount of renewable
energy. At the same time the Japanese government abolished the subsidies to the solar
industry and Japan lost its leading role in the industry. Japanese renewable energy policy
stagnated until 2009, when the debate about the implementation of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT)
began. FIT became law in 2012 pushing the amount of renewable energy up in Japan. In 2011
the Great East Japan Earthquake happened and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
disaster greatly affected the discussion over renewable energy policy. Under the Basic Act on
Energy Policy, the Japanese government is revising the Basic Energy Plan at least every three
years. In the 2014 version of the plan6 the Japanese government declared the promotion of
renewable energy a priority and in the energy mix plan which was made according to the
Basic Energy Plan of 2014 the Japanese government is aiming to have 22-24 percent of
renewable energy by 2030. Although this includes 8.8-9.2 percent of hydroelectricity, Japan
will have to achieve a large increase in the percentage of other renewable energy from 3.2
percent to over 10 percent.
In the U.S., the history of federal renewable energy policy started during the Carter
administration7. In response to the oil crises, President Jimmy Carter submitted the National
Energy Plan to Congress, and Congress passed five pieces of legislation, collectively known
as the National Energy Act. In those plans and measures, investment in and promotion toward
renewable energy are mentioned. However, the introduction of renewable energy in the U.S.
5 Kobayashi, Shinichi. "Renewable energy policy (再生可能エネルギーの政策史)." In The various aspects
concerning renewable energy: Investigation project investigation report about science and technology, by
National Diet Library investigation and legislative bank relations and supervision department, 5-46. National
Diet Library, 2014. 6 Agency for Natural Resources and Energy "Basic Energy Plan エネルギー基本計画." Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry, 4 2014. 7 Kobayashi, Kenichi. "The Formation of Contemporary Energy Policy in the U.S. : President Carter's Energy
Policy : Note." The Journal of Tokyo Keisai University : Economics 285 (2015): 269-288.
5
has been relatively slow. In contrast to the slow and reluctant engagement with renewable
energy policy on the federal level, many states had previously implemented various both rule
and regulation type and incentive type of policies8. Rule and regulation type of policies are
measures like the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) and the Mandatory Green Power
Option (MGPO) and incentive type of policies are like Feed-in tariff (FIT) and other
subsidies. Starting with the 1990s, individual states had taken leading roles in promoting
renewable energy9. The willingness of the federal government to engage in promotion of
renewable energy was relatively weak until the Obama administration. President Obama
promoted investment in renewable energy calling it a “Green New Deal”. This policy was
conceived positively due to high price of oil around 200810
.
Figure 4 Refiner Acquisition Cost of Crude Oil 1974-2016
U.S Energy Information Administration
President Obama had appealed the importance of renewable energy from the
perspective of national security and climate change. On August 3, 2015, President Obama and
8 Ansolabehere, Stephen, and David M. Konisky. Cheap and Clean, How Americans Think about Energy in the
Age of Global Warming. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014 9 Shrimali, Gireesh, and Joshua Kniefel. "Are government policies effective in promoting deployment of
renewable electricity resources?" Energy Policy (Elsevier) 39 (2011): 4726-4741 10 (U.S. Energy Information Administration 2015)
0
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Refiner Acquisition Cost ofCrude Oil
6
the EPA announced the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan is an overall plan for
reducing carbon dioxide emission to deal with climate change in the energy sector of the
economy. Development of the renewable energy is one aspect for dealing with man-made
climate change and, in the plan the U.S is going to obtain 21 percent of electric energy from
renewable energy sources by 203011
.
Both the U.S. and Japanese governments are planning to expand the capacity of
renewable energy.
PUBLIC OPINION IN THE U.S. AND JAPAN
Evaluating public opinion is complex as it has various variables. Most people do not
have enough information to have an opinion about renewable energy. Some people are
willing to increase renewable energy but do not want to pay the higher electricity prices. This
section points out two things. One is the gap between the general public opinion about the
renewable energy and the opinion of local people where the renewable energy plants are
planned to be constructed. The other is that most of the public have little interest in where the
energy came from as long as they do not face significant problems in their daily life.
Generally speaking, the public acceptance and expectation toward renewable
energy are high in both the U.S. and Japan. Stephen Ansolabehere and David M. Konisky
argue in their book Cheap and Clean, that what the American public want for their energy is
that it be cheap and clean, just as the book title says. The historical analysis of Gallup poll
about energy shows that the American public is very much in favor of clean energy compared
to other energy like coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy (Figure 2). In the survey data
obtained by the Institute of Applied Energy of Japan when people were asked if they think
whether, renewable energy, if it is strongly encouraged could be one of the main energy
suppliers in Japan after 20 years, around 60-80% of the people say “yes” (Figure 3).
Contrasting with the high public expectation and acceptance in general, when one
looks closely at actual cases, some renewable energy projects face local opposition. As
11 United States Environmental Protection Agency. "FACT SHEET: Clean Power Plan - Clean Energy Now and
in the Future." United States Environmental Protection Agency. 8 13, 2015.
http://www.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan/fact-sheet-clean-power-plan-clean-energy-now-and-future (accessed 1 15,
2016)
7
renewable energy is less energy intensive than conventional energy like oil and gas, it
requires more space to implement. There are various reasons for opposition depending on
what kind of renewable energy facility is to be built (see Table 2). The common reasons for
local opposition are the disturbance of landscape, health damage, environmental risk and lack
of substantial explanation by the business operator. In the case of Higashi-izu in Japan, local
residents are complaining about the operation of mega wind turbines as they destruct
landscape, causes sleeping difficulty and moreover that wind turbines create little profit for
them12
.
Looking at the Figure 3, the number of people who say “yes” to this survey has
declined after the Fukushima disaster of 2011. This result may be a consequence of increased
public interest in energy problems. After the Fukushima disaster the people in the Tokyo
metropolitan area experienced rolling electric blackout, which was implemented to deal with
electricity shortage of TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company). This firsthand experience
may have lead people to think and learn about where the energy they consume comes from
and how the energy is produced. Therefore in the survey after 2011 many people may have
answered with a more critical opinion. After 2011 people who said that they do not know
increased compared to the years before 2011. This may be also the result of the fact that
people thought about the energy more seriously than before and realized actually that they do
not know about renewable energy that much.
Figure 5 Gallup Poll about Energy13
Do you think that as a country, the United States should put more emphasis, less emphasis, or about
the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from each of the following
sources—[RANDOM ORDER]?
More emphasis
(%)
Less emphasis
(%)
Same emphasis
(%)
No opinion (%)
COAL
2015 Mar 5-8 28 43 27 2
2013 Mar 7-10 31 41 25 3
OIL
12
Think about Wind Turbine Problem 風車問題を考える住民の会. About the Problem of Wind Energy and
Wind Turbine Construction in Higashi-izu 東伊豆町風力発電・風車建設問題について. n.d.
http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yunami/ (accessed 12 13, 2015) 13
Gallup. Energy: Gallup Historical Trend. n.d. http://www.gallup.com/poll/2167/energy.aspx (accessed 1 9,
2016).
8
2015 Mar 5-8 41 30 27 1
2013 Mar 7-10 46 32 21 1
NATURAL GAS
2015 Mar 5-8 55 12 32 2
2013 Mar 7-10 65 0 24 2
WIND
2015 Mar 5-8 70 14 14 1
2013 Mar 7-10 71 12 16 1
SOLAE POWER
2015 Mar 5-8 79 9 12 1
2013 Mar 7-10 76 10 12 2
NUCLEAR
POWER
2015 Mar 5-8 33 35 28 4
2013 Mar 7-10 37 32 28 3
GALLUP
Figure 6 Poll of the public opinion about energy14
Question: Assuming that it is encouraged strongly, renewable energy (such as solar, wind and
geothermal energy) could be one of the main energy supplies in Japan after 20 years. (respondents:
people who live within 30 km of the Tokyo metropolitan area, N=500)
14
Institute of Applied Energy. "Poll of the public opinion about energy." 2003-2013.
9
Table 115
reasons for opposition
in general poor explanation
wind noise, landscape, bird strike
solar land use
geothermal environmental destruction, earth quakes
biomass land should be used for food production
For smoother and more practical expansion of renewable energy, what is government
required to do? There are various perspectives from which to think about this question.
Focusing on public acceptance, I propose, that there are three important points, which may be
summed up as participation, choice, and planning.
The first point is local participation. Many places where a substantial amount of
wind energy capacity could be successfully built seem to have high local acceptance and
15
Maruyama, Yasushi. Socialization of Renewable Energy. Yuhikaku, 2014.
22.6
21.6
37
27
45.2
32.2
33
27.6
32
34.6
36.3
32.4
38.2
31
42
38
40.8
40.8
29.6
26.8
18
22.8
17
17.8
20
24.4
19.2
8
8.6
8
9.2
4.6
6
7.4
5
6.2
5.2
6.4
4.6
2.8
2.2
2
1.6
2.2
1.8
0 20 40 60 80 100
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
Agree Somewhat agree Don't know Somewhat disagree Disagree
10
support. Ogata points out the connection between positive impression and participation in the
planning process16
. In his paper he examined the difference of the relation between two
different districts which are located next to a same windfarm and, the business operator of the
windfarm. He found out that in a district that had better communication with the business
operator few people claimed noise nuisance by the wind farm was unbearable but in the other
district with poor communication, local residents complained to the business operator that
they were suffering from the noise of the wind turbines. In the case of Hgashi-Izu City, the
opposing group does not seem to have strong dislike toward the city owned wind turbines but
strongly opposed the big wind turbines which were built by a private company.
The second important point is choice and availability of information. It is important
that the pubic have a fair amount of information to choose what kind of energy they want.
Most people do not think about energy seriously as long as they are not in trouble.
Governments or public services need to create intentional opportunities that people think
about renewable energy. For the open discussion it is important to appeal from many kinds of
media such as the Internet and TV, or in the school and senior education.
The last point is the strategy and plan of business operators. To choose places where
people have a rather positive impression of the renewable energy facilities is one possible
strategy according to Ogata17
. Places like former industrial sites that in the past have suffered
from the air pollution are often favorably inclined towards wind turbines and solar panels.
However, because suitable and efficient places for renewable energy depend on natural
conditions it may happen that the best locations are in areas where the people are most likely
to be opposed to building power stations. Therefore it is important for the business operator
to learn how to ease the opposition and find a solution that is acceptable to everyone.
CONCLUSION
Renewable energy is going to take an important role in the energy supply. The
governments are aiming to cover more energy by renewable energy than the current level. By
2030, both Japanese and U.S. governments are planning to compose about 20 percent of the
16
Ogata, Seiichi. "A study on the Social Factors of Wind Noise Problem: Case of the Wind Power Plants in the
M City." Papers on Environmental Information Science 29 (2015): 235-240. 17 ibid
11
energy by the renewable energy. National Security and climate change are the reasons why
the renewable should be promoted.
In the process of promotion it is very important that citizens are presented with
options and alternatives from which they can choose from a position of solid knowledge and
be conscious what kind of energy they are using. More and more people are going to be
affected and involved in the renewable energy programs and facilities.
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12
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